In this episode of his long running series about the stars, astronomer Peter Read visits Matauri Bay on the East Coast to view preparations to monitor the only total solar eclipse visible in New Zealand in the 20th century. Read is shown a revolutionary camera that will be used to photograph the eclipse and he talks to an American expert about rockets that will be fired into the ionosphere to record it. Weather concerns are allayed and footage of the corona effect, when the moon is completely in front of the sun, is impressive even in black and white.